Week 1

I think VR falls somewhere in between an additive and an expressive form. It can be used to create experiences that are either additive or expressive, depending on the goals of the creator. One of Murray's four principle properties of digital environments is "spatial." VR can achieve this principle by allowing users to create virtual worlds and experiences. In contrast, VR can fail to achieve this principle by not allowing users to escape their world. For example, if you are stuck in a boring classroom, you might not be able to create an interesting experience because the environment around you limits you.

The other three principal properties of digital environments are "participatory," "procedural," and "encyclopedic." VR can achieve all these properties by creating an immersive experience that allows users to feel like they are in the virtual world. In contrast, VR can fail to achieve one or more of these properties by not allowing users to control their experience (for example, if you are stuck in a virtual reality game and cannot escape, the experience would be considered unsuccessful).

Overall, I think VR is an additive and expressive form. It can be used to create experiences that are both additive and expressive, but it can also be used to create experiences that are only additive. I think this is because VR is still in its early stages, and developers are still trying to figure out what works best for their particular games and applications. For example, some games might be more successful if they are purely additive (for example, a game that lets you move around a virtual world), while other games might be more successful if they are more expressive (for example, a game that lets you interact with the virtual world). It will be interesting to see how developers experiment with VR in the future and see which type of experiences they are most successful with.

In conclusion, VR falls between an additive and an expressive form. It can achieve some of the properties of digital environments but also fail to achieve others. For example, VR can achieve a sense of immersion but can also fail to provide a sense of interactivity. VR can provide a sense of agency, but it can also fail to provide a sense of presence.

Week 2

The essay explains how merging illusion and realism in immersive virtual settings might result in authentic behavior. The authors argue that place illusions occur when a person feels they are at a different location than they are. Plausibility is the extent to which a person considers a virtual world realistic. People are more inclined to react in a manner that aligns with their ideas about the context if these two characteristics are present.

According to the reading, it's possible that, when sufficiently immersed, individuals would react to VR as if it were the actual thing. The term for this is "response-as-if-real" (RAIR). The authors propose that plausibility (Psi), immersion, and place illusion (PI) play a role in RAIR. "immersion" describes how realistic it feels when talking about a virtual world. The term "place illusion" refers to the sensation of being immersed in a virtual setting while the user is aware that they are somewhere else. The ability to convince yourself that something is true despite your knowledge of the contrary is called plausibility.

If the virtual world is convincing and the events seem realistic, the authors argue, users will react to VR as if it were the actual thing. It should be noted that the scholars provide no proof for their assertion. It is only anecdotal evidence of how immersion and believability may inspire believable actions. An allegation of this kind requires more than anecdotal evidence. If the writers want us to trust them, they'll have to show us that RAIR may be triggered by immersing us in a plausible world.

The article discusses how virtual reality can affect memory and dreams. It argues that VR can highly improve memory due to the Ecological validity of VR simulations . It also suggests that VR can influence dreams, which is considered a memory consolidation side effect.

The findings from the reading suggest that VR has a strong influence on memory encoding, storage, and retrieval. VR can create bias and input variability that can improve or hinder learning. If VR strongly impacts memory, researchers and developers need to understand how memory works to create more effective VR experiences.

From what is stated in the reading, VR could significantly impact memory in terms of encoding and retrieval. VR could improve memory encoding because it is a more ecologically valid simulation. Also, it could provide better transferability of knowledge learned in VR due to cue dependency. Additionally, it is stated that VR could also influence dreams, which are considered a side effect of memory consolidation. If VR has these impacts, researchers and serious game developers must be aware of them to create more effective VR experiences.

Week 3

Augmented Reality AR provides real-time and live virtual elements primarily by utilizing cameras. Examples of ARs on smartphone camera ads are Pokémon GO. Game and even the lenses that are used in Snapchat. On the other hand, VR, Virtual Reality, means a complete shutdown of the real world. VR provides total blockage to the physical world. Both VR and AR offer potential excitement in the future of various fields such as gaming and commerce. VR and AR technologies bring many exciting experiences by combining the real and virtual worlds with more advanced 3-D visuals. There are four significant elements of Virtual Reality: Immersion, where we have fully immersive simulations, none immersive simulations, and semi-immersive simulations; virtual world; feedback from sensory; and interaction.

Environmental storytelling presented by the Scout Expedition Co. at the Immersive Design summit held in 2018 created the concept of The Nest. To elaborate on this concept, the Scout Expedition Co. gives a story of a woman with a pretty average life. The woman left a pile of tapes that shared her life story, more like a journal. The initial objective of the Scout Expedition Co. was to create the Nest, which would help make an immersive story just from the environment itself. This immersive experience from the climate brought together different elements of immersive theatre, narrative videogames, and escape rooms, which gave the listeners/ audience a new way to get actively engaged and be part of the narration.

Johanna Koljonen presents Introduction to Narrative Experience Design at the 2015 Alibis for Interaction. She reminds the audience that all are designers. And that people design or work on things considering the behavioral expectations, every day the particular culture and expected in a specific context. People design things in a certain way to get other humans to go to a clear place or do something in a particular way. In whatever art the designer has created, they may make the intended recipients or the consumers of their content into participants who will be actively involved in their art. Designers do this by giving their consumers Alibis for Interaction, a social dynamic that varies the intended outcome of any act, depending on the context and socio-culture of the designer's art.

Week 8

I stood out with the city of Diomira. Diomira is a city with beautiful, attractive and amazing features. The city has sixty silver domes, bronze statues of every god in which they believed in, lead-paved streets, a theater made of crystal, and a golden cock that crows every morning from a tower. The bronze statues of all the gods attract many visitors from all over the world to come and see the different types of gods. Tourists are able to know the number and the shape of every god that was worshipped. Through this, many visitors could know different types and the source of the worshipped gods. Streets paved with lead is another factor that makes Diomirs city attractive and memorable; the tidiness of the city and the kind of materials used to make the pavement in the streets attracted the majority of leaders around the globe to pay a visit to the city (Italo Calvin, pg. 7). Another aspect of the city that was drawing tourists was the presence of a golden cock that was positioned on a tower every morning.

Many people were eager to know and see the golden male chicken that the crew had every morning. Most visitors wanted to know if the bird was alive because it could crow like a cock that was alive, yet it was just a statue of a chicken. I was also excited and eager to know the technology used to control the bird, and what made the male chicken crew only in the mornings without failing. However, most of these beauties are not new things to many visitors; only visitors used to visit Diomira to see the version of the beauties present in the city. Every man who gets there on a September evenings was experiencing the unique quality if Diomira city. The multicolored bulbs at the entrances to the food stalls are suddenly ignited as the days become shorter (Italo Calvin, pg. 7). Ooh! Shouts a woman's voice from a terrace. Making the location more appealing is challenging. Diomira city reminds me of Kensington city in London. I visited the city three months ago. Towards the South, Kensington is home of the world's most famous and prestigious museums. This is where all features of various gods are also placed. The city also has a lovely collection of garden squares and elegant stucco walkways. Garden Square and elegant stucco paths are believed to be the most expensive paths in the world. This is because Kensington is well known as the center of kingship in London. The beauty and the clean pathways attract many visitors to use them, leaving them with a memory of desiring to live in the city to keep on using the paths. This shows how organized the city is.